Some terrific news to pass along from the Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication. The AEJMC has approved the creation of a Sports Communication Interest Group to start in October of 2010. The group got approval for 3 years, which means it will have to petition for reapproval in 2013. Marie Hardin at Penn State deserves much of the credit for working on the proposal and getting it approved by the AEJMC Board of Directors.

The approval is indicative of the growing interest in sports media scholarship. Last year, the Broadcast Education Association added a Sports Division, and the National Communications Association also has a strong cadre of sports scholars (including many JSM contributors).

Obviously, now comes the hard part of organizing and creating offices such as research chair, program chair, etc. The group will have a business meeting and one program slot at the 2010 AEJMC convention in Denver. If you have an interest in helping out, you can contact Marie Hardin directly at mch208@psu.edu.